In a couple of suits filed before the Delhi High Court by the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) for declaration and consequential reliefs under the Specific Relief Act, 1963, Contract Act, 1872, and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad issued summons to the New Delhi Municipal Council (Defendant) (NDMC) and suggested them to settle the disputes amicably.
IHCL entered into an agreement with NDMC on 11-04-2019 and 27-07-2018 for the operation, maintenance, and management of the hotels – Taj Mahal and The Connaught-IHCL SeleQtions. IHCL asserted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, various orders were passed by the government, restricting the use of hotels and premises because of which its activities were crippled from 2020 to 2022.
It was contended that the government had taken certain decisions for payments to be made in this period and mentioned a certain amount that was payable by IHCL to NDMC during the pandemic. It was submitted that before filing of the present suits, IHCL was obliged to follow the procedure provided for amicable resolution in the agreements. IHCL argued that the suits were for declaration, not for claiming money and that the right to sue arose for the first time on 20-05-2025 i.e., when the negotiations failed.
NDMC contended that the right to sue arose in 2022 as IHCL’s request for excluding a certain amount of money was rejected on 17-11-2022 itself. It was mentioned that the payment for the amount arose in April 2020, and IHCL’s request was rejected in 2022. Applying Section 9 of the Limitation Act, NDMC asserted that the period of limitation cannot be stopped by filing a subsequent suit or application. NDMC further contended that the present suit was hit by Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 as it sought mere declaratory rights.
The Court issued summons and directed for the written statements to be filed by NDMC along with affidavit of admission/denial to IHCL’s documents within the time stipulated under the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018. Replication was also directed to be filed within the same time period.
Lastly, the Court opined that an endeavour could be made to settle the disputes amicably and stated that it was open for NDMC to consider this suggestion, but clarified that this would not stop the completion of pleadings in the present suits.
The matters are listed before the Joint Registrar on 23-04-2026.
Appearances:
For Plaintiff – Mr. Gautam Narayan (Sr Adv), Mr. R.A. Iyer, Ms. Asmita Singh, Ms. Deboshree Mukherjee, Ms. Aaliya Waziri
For Defendant – Mr. Saurabh Seth (SC), Mr. Kabir Dev, Mr. Sukhvir Singh
